THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



163 



the wider the better ; and unless the 

 subvsoil is clayey enough to hold the 

 water, it is well to dig at least a foot 

 and a half deep. I usually dig two 

 si)ades deep, heaping up the soil on the 

 sides of the hole, and throwing the sub- 

 soil around on the surface. I then 

 return a portion of the soil to the hole, 

 on which the tree is set, and a 

 wheelbarrow of richer earth is filled 

 in among the roots, as the rest of the 

 soil on the margin of the hole is return- 

 ed. I get this richer earth generally 

 by taking two or three inches of soil 

 from my poultry yard. When the hole 

 is nearly full I put around the trees a 

 good mulch of leaves, refuse straw, or 

 any similar material, and lightly cover 

 this with earth to hold it in place. 

 This will protect trees from drouth 

 better than watering will, and help to 

 maintain an equable tem[)erature of soil. 

 It will also become a good fertilizer. 



ENSILAGE. 



The results of some expeiiments with 

 ensilage made at the New York State 

 Experimental Station, are thus summed 



Our conclusions in regard to ensilage, 

 as derived from this one experiment, 

 must be considered both favorable and 

 unfavorable to its claims. When it is 

 the sole food it seems a food favorable 

 toward maintenance, unfavorable to 

 the production of milk, unfavorable to- 

 ward the total production of butter, 

 but favorable for the recovery of the 

 butter represented by the fat of the 

 milk. We may infer from reasoning, 

 that the mixture with other foods may 

 tend to obviate, in a certain degree, the 

 unfavorable indications. Its effect upon 

 the general appearance and health of 

 the cow when fed in excess, seems 

 detrimental to a slight degree, but when 

 fed as an addition to other foods, the 

 effect, so far as we can reason, would 



seem to be favorable. — E. Lewis Stur- 



TEVANT, Director. 



PRESERVING PEAS. 

 The most effectual method we have 

 found for preserving peas from wither- 

 ing or drying up in a drouth, is to 

 mulch them thickly with coarse hay or 

 straw, to a width of at least two feet on 

 each side of the row. Our garden soil 

 is a fine, porous gravel, and unless the 

 season is cool and moist, the pea vines 

 dry up so badly as to produce little 

 fruit. Mulching heavily is consequently 

 a necessity in order to save them. By 

 doing this, we have obtained as good 

 crops as when May, June, and July 

 wei-e cool and rather rainy. It is not 

 necessary to bush dwarf peas. Still, 

 when exposed to a strong wind, they 

 will sometimes blow down, and then 

 the further advantage of their being 

 mulched is that the pods are ke})t clean 

 and dry, and escape being mildewed. 

 It is an excellent thing also to mulch 

 both pole and bush beans, melons, 

 squashes and cucumbers in the same 

 way. — American Agriculturist for June. 



RIPENING GRAPES. 



Josiah Hoopes says in the New York 

 Tribune : *' No surer evidence of the 

 impropriety of defoliation to admit the 

 sun's rays can be cited than the results 

 of recent experiments in bagging grapes. 

 We see that the covered clusters ripen 

 more thoroughly, color more beauti- 

 fully, and assume that flavor which, 

 without artificial aid, in many sections 

 they rarely attain. The foliage in a 

 great measure acts as the lungs do in 

 the animal creation, and every perfect, 

 healthy leaf taken off a plant destroys 

 a portion at least of its power of sub- 

 sistence, for vegetation extracts from 

 the air a wonderful amount of nutri- 

 ment, which enters into its organiza- 

 tion through the myriads of minute 



